Armed Forces minister Al Carns has resigned from the Cabinet, in a fresh hammer blow to Sir Keir Starmer - just hours after defence secretary John Healey quit in protest at the government’s defence spending plan.
In his resignation letter, Mr Carns said that the defence investment plan (DIP) was “neither transformative enough nor sufficiently funded”.
Sir Keir had issued a defence of the spending plan, after Mr Healey quit, warning the prime minister that the DIP “falls well short of what is required”. Mr Healey accused the prime minister and the chancellor of having been “unwilling to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats".
Downing Street appointed Dan Jarvis to replace Mr Healey.
Mr Healey’s parliamentary private secretary, MP Pamela Nash, also resigned on Thursday night.
The shock resignations come just weeks after former health secretary Wes Streeting quit, marking further questions over Sir Keir’s ability to cling on to his position.
Tensions have been mounting in the cabinet over the publication of the long-delayed plan, which will set out how new equipment and defence infrastructure will be funded in the next decade.
